Every memorable romance begins with characters readers want to follow beyond the final page. With Stay Until the Snow Melts, author L. A. Macrae introduces not only an unexpected love story but the opening chapter of a much larger journey.
The forthcoming novel is Book One of the Between Seasons series, which is planned across four books: Stay Until the Snow Melts, When You Came Back to Me, Where We Finally Stay and What Still Remains.
That alone reveals something important about Macrae’s approach to romantic storytelling. This is not a world designed around a single dramatic encounter and a quick conclusion. Instead, Between Seasons creates space for relationships to develop, change and face whatever comes after two people first find each other.
And in Stay Until the Snow Melts, that beginning arrives unexpectedly.
At the center of the novel is Zoe Macfarland, a thirty-year-old woman who decides to leave Scotland behind temporarily and take a three-week solo trip to Canada. It is a rare act of boldness for someone accustomed to remaining safely within the familiar. Zoe wants adventure, independence and the experience of finally doing something because she wants to do it.
Then a scenic detour, black ice and a worsening snowstorm bring her to the isolated home of Bethany Macdonald.
From there, Macrae builds romance through detail rather than spectacle.
Coffee matters. Shared meals matter. Films on the sofa matter. A hand resting close to another becomes significant. So does remembering what someone likes, listening carefully when they speak or noticing the parts of themselves they rarely show anyone else.
Beth’s stained-glass workshop is a particularly revealing example. Zoe does not simply admire the beautiful finished pieces. She becomes interested in Beth’s sketches, unfinished ideas and creative process the private work behind what everyone else sees. That moment reflects one of the novel’s recurring emotional ideas: being loved begins with being genuinely seen.
Macrae also allows uncertainty to remain part of the romance.
Zoe does not immediately understand everything she feels. Her relationship with Beth develops through hesitation, curiosity and vulnerability. Rather than turning uncertainty into conflict for its own sake, the story gives the characters room to communicate and move forward carefully. When Zoe admits she wants to understand her feelings with Beth, patience becomes part of their connection.
That emphasis on emotional progression gives Stay Until the Snow Melts its intimate, character-driven quality.
The winter setting strengthens that approach. At first, the snow creates isolation, giving Zoe and Beth an unexpected world of their own. Later, as it begins to melt, the same landscape becomes a reminder that their protected time together cannot last forever. The changing season becomes inseparable from the changing relationship.
And that may be the most intriguing promise of the Between Seasons series.
Finding someone is only one part of a love story.
What happens when circumstances change? When distance appears? When everyday responsibilities return? When two people must decide what the connection they discovered means beyond the extraordinary moment that created it?
Through Zoe and Beth, L. A. Macrae begins exploring those questions with warmth, vulnerability and an appreciation for the small moments that make relationships feel real.
For readers drawn to slow-burn romance, emotional intimacy, character development, LGBTQ+ love stories and relationships that continue evolving beyond the first spark, the Between Seasons series is one to watch.
And it all begins when a snowstorm brings two strangers together.
Stay Until the Snow Melts by L. A. Macrae is currently in the publishing phase and will be available soon.
